Bernabeu boss Carlo Ancelotti is desperate to swoop for Sterling, who has yet to agree a new long-term deal at Anfield.

According to the Mirror, Liverpool are dragging their feet on getting a contract sorted and Real are ready to pounce next summer.

The Spanish giants have banked £60m after selling Angel Di Maria to Manchester United and would use that cash to fund a swoop.

Sterling, 19, is on just £30,000-a-week at Anfield. The majority of his fellow team-mates - both with England and Liverpool - are on far more.

New boy Mario Balotelli, for example, earns three times more than Sterling.

Liverpool are desperate for him to stay but the failure to have a new deal signed and sealed has given Madrid hope of snapping him up.

Rodgers said last month: “When you reward young players too quickly – Raheem’s still only 19 – you give them too much too early and that will be their downfall. It’s a big problem because they lose their hunger.”

The teen star could even make a move to Real to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, who is understood to have fallen out of love with the club.